YouTube Mukbang and Diet Creators Hit by Eating-Disorder Ad Rules

YouTubes tighter enforcement of eating-disorder advertising rules is squeezing Korean mukbang and diet creators, with some channels losing monetization or deleting hundreds of older videos, The Korea Times and Seoul Economic Daily reported.

Under YouTubes advertiser-friendly guidelines, videos that promote or appear to encourage eating disorders including binge eating, food hoarding, laxative misuse, extreme calorie restriction, or graphic weight and BMI disclosures can be barred from ad revenue. Titles, thumbnails, descriptions, and tags are part of the review, both outlets noted. The policy is not a blanket ban on mukbang, but mid-tier creators say the line between ordinary large-portion eating videos and restricted content has grown hard to see.

Diet creator DietJo (also reported as Salppaejo), with roughly 440,000450,000 subscribers, said her channel was demonetized and that she paused uploads because she could not tell which clips might trigger further penalties. Creator Miso said she deleted or privatized 339 of 667 videos after a temporary monetization suspension, including older weight-loss diaries that listed specific body-weight figures.

Star mukbang creator Tzuyang, who has about 13.5 million subscribers, addressed the climate in a recent market video, saying she had heard eating a lot isn’t the trend these days and that she would try to eat a reasonable amount” going forward while still filming a multi-dish mukbang, The Korea Times reported. Seoul Economic Daily quoted a YouTube official telling Newsis that the company works with mental-health experts on teen recommendations and that monetizable content is held to stricter standards than general upload rules.

The crackdown lands on a format that began in South Korea and became a global creator staple. For brands and managers watching Influencers monetization risk, the Korean cases are an early stress test of how eating and wellness verticals fare when platforms prioritize vulnerable-viewer protections over high-volume spectacle.

Verified facts as of late-September 2026 reports: YouTube is enforcing eating-disorder ad rules that can strip revenue for binge, hoarding, laxative, extreme-restriction, and detailed weight/BMI content; DietJo reported demonetization; Miso removed 339 of 667 videos; Tzuyang publicly pledged more moderate eating on camera. How creators reshape titles, thumbnails, and archives will decide whether mukbang remains a durable ad category.